“But, but, but...publishers have to make money”....”But, but, but...difficulty settings are optional”...”But, but, but...video games are a business, not a charity”..."But, but, but...you're not entitled to anything as a paying consumer!" so says all the pandering pro-corporate white knights. Well, at least gamers have become fed up enough to make some noise about the recent bull crap surrounding the extra costs required to play Ranger Mode in Metro: Last Light.

Literally, the game's content has been stripped and blockaded off, costing gamers additional money to access the "Hard" difficulty setting, also known as Ranger Mode, something that was a standard feature in the original Metro 2033 after you beat the game the first time through. As noted in an article by PC Gamer [via Shack news], Koch Media's global brand manager Huw Beynon ran to the defense of Deep Silver and their decision to have the game mode as pre-order DLC, enforcing anyone who wants to play on a harder setting to shell out $5 in addition to the $60 retail purchase, saying...

"Offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail."

"Game makers and publishers now live in a world where offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail, and Ranger Mode seemed like the best choice since it was a mode for hardcore fans who would most likely pre-order the game, or purchase it at launch in any case,"

This is ludicrous. Remember when this used to be joke? I remember saying “Pretty soon they'll charge you for difficulties and endings” and both have come true.

It made me sick to my stomach when Pro-Corporate White Knights ran to Capcom's defense to say that the Asura's Wrath true ending was optional, even though the true ending makes a huge change in the entire outcome of the game's lore and who lives and who dies. It makes me question what part of the $60 purchase isn't optional if endings and difficulty settings “aren't necessary”?

I don't know about any of you, but I don't buy games just to make some rich, silk-suit wearing investor richer. Spending money on a product that's gutted from the inside out just so some shareholder can buy that new iYacht is not why I play games.

Thankfully, Angry Joe conjured up the royal rage from within and unleashed a vocal cannon of criticism against this perverse practice of financial penetration into our wallet holes from the powers that be. His rant inspired the righteous fury of core gamers from every nook and cranny of the internet to finally unite and say that enough is enough.

Textual threats of holding the wallet were made.

Pre-orders were canceled.

Gamer rage was rightfully exercised.

Hopefully the unification of gamers against this kind of practice and other content-stripping practices within the gaming industry to financially ravage your wallet will incite the kind of change we need to see.

Gamers hurt the wallet of Capcom with their Street Fighter x Tekken disc-locked content. Gamers
made a laughing stock out of Electronic Arts with the SimCity debacle regarding always-on DRM, and now the gaming community has a chance to ensure that pre-order content stripping does not become any worse than it already is. As usual, though, don't expect to receive any support or backing from IGN, Game Informer, Games Radar or other big outlets. More than anything, don't be surprised to see them defend why gamers need to pay more and get less. You can always rely on the sorry excuse of gaming journalists to defend the teet from which they suckle.